The Magic of the Spin Doctors
by mkras
Summary: Westmonte Winter Formal '92. He doesn't know what it is, but there's just something about her.


My take on how Lux was created :)

* * *

_**The Magic of the Spin Doctors**_

He probably wouldn't have given her a second glance if his date wasn't being carried out of the hall by two teachers.

She had been standing alone, swaying to whatever music was playing. If he thinks hard enough he can remember exactly what music was playing. In fact, he can remember a lot from that night.

Sometimes there are moments that feel bigger than others, and for some reason he knew this was one.

He follows her wistful stare to the couples on the dance floor.

Almost instantly he spots half a dozen of his friends dancing with their girlfriends. It hits him then that he's actually all alone.

Maybe that's why he finds himself walking towards her. A girl that must have been in his grade, yet he had no idea who she was. She doesn't notice him approaching and then he's standing right next to her.

"Pretty lame night, huh?" He offers with one of his disarmingly cute smiles.

She's clearly surprised that someone's talking to her. Or maybe that _he_ was talking to her.

"Yeah." She says it softly, not daring to look up at him.

He takes a quick chance to really look at her. She looks cute enough, he's surprised he has never seen her around before.

They stand in silence for a while, neither knowing what to really say.

She's the first to break it.

"…do you want to dance?" She asks it tentatively, her voice a little shaky. She lifts her eyes up to meet his and he's left speechless. She has the biggest brown eyes he has ever seen in his life. They are breath-taking.

She must have taken his silence as a rejection and quickly turns her face from him embarrassed.

"Forget it…it was a stupid thing to ask…" She mumbles before starting to walk away.

Baze quickly comes to his senses and without a second thought his hand reaches for hers. Her whole body freezes at his touch and she slowly turns back around. He leads her onto the dance floor, pulling her close to him. It was a slow song.

***

For some reason he's hyper aware of any place her body is touching his. She isn't a great dancer, but it doesn't really matter.

"Desperate much Baze?" A sniggering voice interrupts them about half-way through the song. Instantaneously he feels the girl's body tense.

He lets her go and turns around to see that it's Nick, one of his mates. "What are you talking about?" Baze asks questioningly, a little annoyed.

"Well you're dancing with bookworm over there, so I think it's pretty obvious."

Before Baze can say another thing, the girl runs away. He can hear her heels click against the hardwood floor towards the exit. He's too confused to chase after her instead turning back to his friend.

"What the hell?"

Nick gives him an incredulous look. "Dude, that's what I should be asking you."

"I didn't even know who she was."

"Are you fucking around with me Baze?"

"No." Baze can feel his anger rising at his friend's antagonising.

"Cate. You know, the one who's best friend is a dictionary. Cate Cassidy."

Then it clicks. That was Cate Cassidy? She looked so…not her.

"Oh. Cheers for the save man… Did uhh…didn't recognise her at all."

"Jeez, now I get a little gratitude." Nick says feigning exasperation. "You're so thick sometimes Baze." He smiles.

"I'm gonna head home I think. This night blows."

"Maybe for you." Nick says motioning with his head over to his hot date who was getting them some drinks.

Baze laughs. "Whatever, I'll see you tomorrow."

He walks back over to his table, grabs his jacket and gratefully leaves the hall. The night is cool when he gets outside causing him to walk a little faster towards his car. A few steps away he hears something.

He stops and has a look around. Then he sees her. She's sitting on the ground.

He may be a jock. A little too arrogant at times, but underneath it all, he is a nice guy.

"...hey, are you okay?"

Her head lifts up, and the look she gives him makes him instantly cringe. It's full of hate and anger and he recoils at the intensity of it. "Oh yeah, I'm fine." She hisses sarcastically.

He feels bad for her. He knows all the stick she's had to put up with over the years. He slowly walks over to her. Maybe he can make this right. Her head's gone down back between her hands.

He's not sure what to say.

"I'm sorry." He offers lamely. He's still standing over her. Towering would probably be a more accurate description. She's small to begin with, but compared to his giant frame, she looks tiny with her head cradled and her knees pulled up to her chest.

She doesn't respond. And he almost gives up when her head finally lifts again.

"For what?" This time she doesn't sound angry or pissed. This time she just looks sad and her voice sounds small.

"Uh…" He fumbles to say anything. He's not sure what he should be sorry for. He's never really directly teased her. It's always been his friends. Then again, he hasn't stopped it.

"Just forget it. Go back to your friends." She says dismissively.

***

"I don't get it. You look so…not how you usually look." Realising what he's just said Baze gives her a sheepish smile.

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment." She says, but this time the harshness is gone.

They had been talking for about 20 minutes, side by side on the curb. With his usual charm he had broken past all the hostility and it looked as if they were on good terms, well better terms than before anyway.

"That's what a bit of make-up and a silly little frock will do to you I guess." She smiles; the first smile she has given him since they had danced together.

He pulls out his flask and takes a swig. "Want some?"

"What the hell." She says taking the flask and swallowing some of the clear liquid. Immediately she almost coughs it back up. He laughs.

"Ugh yuck."

***

"I loooove to sinnng." She's kind of slurring her words and he's laughing.

She's a light weight and he won't let her have anymore so he's finished off the flask by himself.

He's not worried about someone finding them out here, the dance won't be over for another hour or so.

Suddenly she's starts singing _Little Miss Can't Be Wrong_, getting a lot of the lyrics wrong, but kind of maintaining the melody.

He loves this song, and this girl's kind of infectious, in the weirdest way. So he's singing along.

She turns to him, "You like this song too?" Her eyes are wide, almost childlike.

"Are you kidding, I love the whole album!" He says enthusiastically.

"Me toooooo!! I wish I could actually listen to it right now. Our voices aren't doing it justice." She kind of pouts, which he finds extremely cute. He shakes his head. _What was wrong with him tonight?_

She keeps talking. "I should've brought my discman…"

Then he remembers that he was listening to them on the way to the formal.

His eyes light up. "It's in my car!"

"Really?" She squeals.

"Yup, come on, let's go." Baze jumps up, before quickly pulling her up.

***

"Wow, nice ride." She says smirking, eyeing his mum's minivan up and down.

"Yeah well my car's in the repair shop at the moment. So it was either this or I walk."

"I would've walked." She says teasingly.

He pokes his tongue at her while opening up the back of the minivan.

"After you Madam."

She hops in. It was quite roomy. She hears the door shut behind her and then he's fumbling around the CD's stacked on the passenger seat. "Got it!" He puts the CD in and the song they had previously been assaulting with their voices begun.

She tries to dance around but the height of the minivan is restricting and her heels are digging into her feet. She clumsily tries to take off one of her heels, before falling over. Baze laughs as he sits down and leans against one of the walls. His head's spinning a little but he can't stop staring at her. He laughs again as she stumbles trying to get the second shoe off.

He doesn't know what it is, but there's just something about her.

"Finally." She breaths a sigh of relief as the shoe falls from her foot. She slumps down opposite him.

His feet are spread in front of him, and after a while she does the same. This means that their legs become kind of entangled.

They are both kind of lost in the music, kind of weirded out at where the night has ended up and above all, drunk.

When he meets her eyes again, he's struck with the most overwhelming want.. need - whatever, to kiss her. Before he can second think anything, he's scrambling, not so gracefully, to his knees and moves to her side of the van.

He plops down right next to her, their shoulders touching. She hasn't really acknowledged his movements but her hands have started to fidget in her lap.

Acting purely on instinct, he takes one of her hands and entwines their fingers. She doesn't resist, which he finds some sort of confidence in.

Blue meets brown and his head feels light all of a sudden. Her eyes take on this kind of intense look. Slowly he inches his face closer to hers. He figures she must have met him somewhere along the way, because he's kissing her. And she's kissing him.

Her hands are in his hair, pulling him closer. _Little Miss Can't Be Wrong _begins to fade and just as he's unzipping her dress the beginning chords of _Two Princes_ fills the minivan.


End file.
